So, you’ve made the decision to move on and now it’s time to put your home on the market. Soon the home you know and love will be someone else’s. With this mind, it’s important when preparing your home for sale, to try and detach yourself from what you love about the house and try to think of what the majority of buyers will be looking for. As we all know, making a great first impression is critical especially when your home may be up against a long list of other properties for sale in your area. So, what can you do to improve the first impression? Here are a few simple tips to get the best results…

1. Give your home a thorough cleaning

When viewing potential properties to buy, there is nothing worse than walking into a home that is covered in filth and it can be hard for some potential buyers to see past this. Ensure your home has been cleaned from top to bottom before any viewings. This should include, dusting and wiping down all bench surfaces, walls, skirtings fans etc. Extra attention should be placed on the kitchen and bathroom areas ensuring any unsightly mould and water stains are removed. Clean all mirrors and window surfaces of dust and smudge marks and if possible, try to organise having your carpets cleaned. Not only will this make the flooring look fresher, but it can also remove any potential odours hanging around.

2. De-Clutter your home

De-cluttering your home gives the perception of space and instilling this feeling in a potential buyer is important. One of the most important areas where you will want to maximise the feeling of space is the Kitchen, and the best way to do this is by decluttering the bench space. Put away any of your benchtop appliances, cookbooks, fruit bowls and any other items that may be taking up benchtop space. In the living areas, try to arrange your furniture in a way that displays the room with the maximum amount of space. If required, this may even mean storing large pieces of furniture temporarily or even hiring some smaller pieces of furniture and staging your home during the sale process. If you have small bedrooms you could even swap the larger beds to single beds to really emphasise the feeling of space. Overall, where possible, it’s best to store any extra pieces of unnecessary furniture like cabinets and bookcases, which will make rooms feel smaller.

3. De-Personalise your home

This can be a difficult step to achieve for some. You will need to step outside and then re-enter your home with a new mindset. Pretend you are a potential buyer and walking through this home for the first time. You will want the people viewing your home to be able to imagine themselves and their possessions filling these spaces. Any personal items such as books, magazines and even photographs should be packed away during viewings to keep the home feeling neutral.

4. Improve the Street Appeal

Many potential buyers will drive past your home first and in some cases multiple times before they are able to come inside for a viewing. As soon as your house is listed, and the address is available you should ensure the street appeal for your property is on point. Complete all the simple maintenance tasks such as mowing your lawn, removing any weeds and trimming back any large bushes and trees. Removing any cobwebs, wipe over the windows and tidy the front entrance. You will want to make the entrance to your house feel as inviting as possible.

5. Deal with any Minor repairs

If you have any outstanding repairs and maintenance issues, its best to get these sorted before potential buyers start visiting. Patch up any holes in walls, and if possible, repaint any feature walls to a neutral colour. Replace washers if you have any leaky taps and adjust any doors that are squeaky, have loose handles or don’t close properly. Overall, if you have any general maintenance issues that could detract from the quality of your home, it should be attended to.

And finally….

6. Get a Pre-Sale Building and Pest Inspection

There’s nothing quite as off-putting to a buyer than having their Pre-Purchase Building Inspection done and then finding significant problems that could have been fixed before the house went on the market. This can create the perception that the property may not have been well maintained by the current owners and it slows down the settlement process putting all concerned in a more stressful situation. This includes a roof void inspection to confirm your roof structure is structurally sound along with any potential pest infestations at your property. The last thing you want during a viewing is for any Ants, Cockroaches or worst of all, Termites, to present themselves so before arranging any property viewings, it’s crucial to get a Building and Pest Inspector in to determine whether there are any possible issues to remedy before the sale.

When potential buyers came through the home, the agent could provide the pre-sale building and timber pest inspection reports giving the house a clean bill of health. This would give the home advantage over competing houses, transparency wins! This would increase the chance of a sale and decrease the chance of a sale falling through.

If you need an honest and thorough independent building inspection before you put your house up for sale, give Total Home Inspections a call. We are the number one place for Timber Pest & Building Inspections Perth.